


Shades of Green (Blue?)

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [37]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, au where everything is black and white until you meet your soulmate, starts outlaw queen ends swan queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 14:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4838372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love."</p><p>-Marc Chagall</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shades of Green (Blue?)

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I'm a few days late; it's been a stressful week.
> 
> AU where everything is black-and-white until you meet your soulmate

Regina’s still not sure why she let Tina talk her into this.

“You’re gonna love Robin,” Tina gushes as they find their seats in the restaurant.

“And is there a reason you’re here for this?”

“Emma’s bringing him. She’s the one in my psych class I talked to.”

Regina frowns. “Are you saying you’ve never met Robin?”

Tina ducks her head. Luckily, she’s saved by the door opening and a blonde woman striding in followed by a much less enthusiastic-looking man. Tina waves to the woman and gestures for them to come over. Regina fidgets with her napkin in her lap, glances at the clock on the wall, anything to make this encounter a little less awkward, but as the two of them sit down she’s got no choice but to look up and meet Robin’s eyes.

And her world explodes into color.

She blinks a few times, takes in the vibrant warmth of Tina’s dress, the light color of her curls, and the intensity of the woman who must be Emma’s jacket. She can’t name the colors yet; she’ll have to dig up the chart she received as a child, but all she knows is that she loves it and she can’t breathe.

Another glance at Robin shows similar emotions, and she clears her throat. “I need to use the restroom,” she manages to say, scooting out of her chair and hurrying to the single-stall bathroom in the back.

She sits on the toilet and types in a google search with shaking fingers until finally she locates a color chart. “Red,” she whispers. Emma’s jacket is _red_. She stares at the chart longer than she needs to before standing up and moving to the sink. She splashes cold water on her face (her eyes are brown) and dries her hands on a paper towel (her jacket is blue).

Everyone is still sitting at the table when she gets back (Tina’s dress is green) and slowly sits down, offering a sheepish smile to Robin (his eyes are brown, too). “Sorry,” she murmurs.

“Robin told us,” Tina says with a wide grin. “Congratulations, you two! I told you this would happen!”

Regina smiles weakly. “I’ve actually got a headache,” she says. “I’m so sorry, Robin, but I think I need to go home and lie down.”

“I hope you feel better soon.”

“We’ll reschedule.”

“Of course.”

Regina scoops her purse off of the back of her chair (it’s not quite brown, not quite white) and follows Emma and Robin to the door. Her heart is racing and her head pounding, and she knows she should be thinking of Robin and nothing else right now, but she can’t seem to tear her focus away from blonde curls cascading over the back of a red leather jacket.

Emma turns her head and offers a brief smile. “Guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, huh?”

Regina’s almost too caught up in the mesmerizing swirl of blue and green in Emma’s eyes to respond. “Yes, I suppose so,” she says after a moment.

They part to head to their cars before either of them can say anything else, and Tina’s still almost irritatingly excited as they pull out of the parking lot. It’s endearing, Regina tells herself. It’s because she cares. “So, I’m going to be your maid of honor, right? I mean I am the reason you two met, after all,” she says as she drives.

Regina sighs. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Tina. I only just met him.”

“But he’s your _soulmate_. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Of course it does.” She doesn’t know how to describe the pit of discomfort lodging itself in her stomach. She doesn’t have the right to be anything but overjoyed, and yet… “I just need a minute to take it all in. I have a whole new world to learn, you know.”

“Right. Of course.” Tina grins broadly. “But you are going to call him tomorrow, right?”

“Do I even have a choice?” It’s meant to be a joke, but there’s a ring of truth, just a hint of resignation in Regina’s voice she prays Tina doesn’t hear.

Regina goes to Robin’s apartment the next day, but it’s Emma who answers the door. “Hey,” she greets her with a smile.

“Emma? What are you doing here?” She tries her hardest, she really does, but she finds herself again captivated by the blue-green of Emma’s eyes.

“Tina didn’t tell you Robin’s my roommate, did she?” Emma shakes her head and smirks. “Probably thought you’d be jealous.”

“No. Not at all.”

“Come on in.” Emma opens the door wider and gestures for Regina to enter, closing it again behind her. “Robin’s still in the shower.”

Regina smiles shakily and sits down on the couch.

“So how are you doing? With everything?”

“I’m all right. It’s a lot to take in.”

“I know what you mean. I was in the middle of a breakdown when I got color, and that didn’t help.”

“When did you get it?”

“I was sixteen. I know, crazy, right?” Emma shakes her head. “He’s not around anymore, though. Decided he needed money more than he needed me, so he left me in prison and bolted.”

Regina’s eyes widen. “I’m so sorry.”

Emma shrugs. “I say good riddance. He was a dick.” She sighs. “’Course, if you asked me at the time, I’d have given you some hopeless romantic bullshit about soulmates and destiny. I was just a kid, you know? How can you expect a kid to handle stuff like that?”

Before Regina can reply, Robin walks into the living room with damp hair and a grin that looks almost uncomfortable. “Regina.”

“Hi,” Regina breathes, turning to face him. “It’s good to see you.”

“You, too.”

Emma smirks. “I’ll just excuse myself.” She heaves herself off of the couch and exits the room, leaving Robin to take her place.

“I was up all night studying my color chart,” Robin says. “It really is a beautiful world.”

“It is.”

They quickly run out of things to talk about and Regina excuses herself on the grounds that she’s got a big exam in the morning. “I’ll come by next weekend,” she promises, and immediately hates herself for it. It’s not that she doesn’t want to talk to Robin, it’s that when she does the conversation goes nowhere.

When he goes in for the kiss it’s too aggressive and too wet and his hands are sweaty on her waist, and she ends it as quickly as she can without seeming rude. “I’ll see you soon,” she says before hurrying off.

Tina is, of course, waiting in their dorm room when she walks in. “Don’t you have a class right now?” Regina sighs, tossing her purse somewhere and collapsing on her bed (her bedclothes are blue).

“This is more important and you know it.” Tina grins. “How did it go?”

“I talked to Emma more than I did Robin.”

“Why in the world would you do that?”

Regina rolls over to face her roommate. “It gets exhausting to carry an entire conversation after a while.” She rubs her face with her hands. “It’s a lot of pressure. And I just… I don’t know if I can live up to it.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“No.” Tina stands up and crosses the room to sit beside Regina. “You’re living the _dream_ , Regina. You’ve found your soulmate, and now you’re just going to run away?”

“I’m not running away.”

“Yes, you are. Robin is going to make you so happy, Regina. You just have to let him in.”

Regina doesn’t say anything for a minute. “I told him I’d come back next weekend. Maybe that’ll be better.”

It isn’t better.

Robin ends up ducking out only half an hour after Regina arrives, muttering some flimsy excuse about Emma forgetting to buy groceries. Emma herself, meanwhile, sits herself beside Regina on the couch and offers Regina a sympathetic smile. “He’s just getting over a really long relationship. It didn’t end well.”

“What happened?”

“He proposed. She dumped him.” Emma shakes her head. “He was so in love with her he didn’t care that he still saw her in black-and-white.”

Regina opens her mouth to reply, but she’s interrupted by the soft coo of a child’s voice from Emma’s bedroom.

“Mama?”

Emma sighs. “One second.” She disappears into her bedroom and comes back a moment later clutching the hand of a young boy, maybe four years old. He points to Regina. “Who’s that?” he asks.

“That’s Regina. She’s my friend. Regina, this is my son, Henry.”

Regina smiles. “I didn’t know you had a son.”

“Well, he’s _supposed_ to be taking a nap right now,” Emma says sternly, turning to Henry. “But sometimes he needs a snack to help him fall asleep.”

Regina patiently waits and plays Solitaire on her phone while Emma gets Henry a snack and sends him back to bed. She’s won three games and is in the middle of a fourth when her friend returns.

“Sorry,” Emma says. “He doesn’t usually wake up in the middle of his naps.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Regina puts her phone away. “Is he… your soulmate’s?”

“Yeah. Neal doesn’t know, though. I didn’t even write his name on the birth certificate. As far as Henry’s concerned, Robin’s his dad, no question about it.”

Regina smiles. “He seems like he’s been raised well.”

“We try our best.” Emma bumps Regina’s shoulder with her own. “How are things between you and Robin, though? I mean, besides today.”

Regina’s smile fades into dismay. “I don’t know if either one of us can live up to the pressure of fate.”

“Sometimes you can’t.” Emma shrugs. “Sorry if this sounds rude, but sometimes fate just doesn’t work out. You tried, you failed, move on.”

“That wasn’t rude. It’s probably the truest thing anyone’s ever said to me regarding soulmates.”

“Take it from me. It doesn’t happen often, but some people just have to thank a person for giving them color and then let them go. Sometimes the only thing a person can give you is color.”

“Do you know that your eyes are never just one color?” Regina blurts. “I can never tell if they’re meant to be blue or green.”

Emma smiles, but a hint of sadness dances in her face. “Neal always said he liked them better when they were mostly green.”

“I think they’re always beautiful.”

“Thanks.” Emma clears her throat. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

Regina allows a smile to slowly cross her lips. “Whatever color your eyes are that day.”

Emma sighs. “You’re not allowed to do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make me fall in love with you.”

“What if that’s exactly what I want?”

Emma shakes her head and draws a shaky breath. “I can’t fall in love. It just hurts.”

Regina snakes her head forward and catches Emma’s. She squeezes it. “What if I promise I’ll never hurt you?”

“You can’t promise that.”

“What if I promise to never stop trying?”

The silence hangs in the air between them for an extended amount of time before Emma finally exhales with a tearful laugh. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but okay.” She squeezes Regina’s hand, pulling it close and kissing each knuckle, murmuring one single word between each one. “Okay.”


End file.
